News & Press

BRUSSELS 19 December 2017. The launch of the world’s largest carbon market sends an important political signal of China’s commitment to address climate change. Putting a price on pollution can incentivise the phase-out of fossil fuels, but the existing carbon markets have so far not delivered a high enough price to drive the transition to…

BRUSSELS 9 November 2017. Today, the European Parliament, the EU Member States and the Commission reached a provisional agreement on the reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for the 2021-2030 period. The deal falls far short of meeting the Paris climate goals, pointing to the need for additional action at national and…

BRUSSELS 3 November 2017. The next round of UN climate talks takes place in Bonn from 6 to 17 November, under the Fijian Presidency, on how to implement the Paris climate deal. One open question is the role carbon markets will play in meeting global climate targets. Carbon Market Watch will be in Bonn to follow…

Updated 19 October to amend the “notes to editors” BRUSSELS 18 October 2017. Today, the EU Member States together with the European Commission and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on aviation’s role in the EU carbon market. Lawmakers chose not to make airlines pay more for their pollution and postponed the date to…

11 Jul 2017 BRUSSELS 11 July 2017. Today, the European Parliament’s environment committee voted to include international flights in Europe’s carbon market from 2021 onwards. Lawmakers also took small steps towards making the aviation industry pay more for its massive climate impact. The committee was voting on aviation’s future role under the EU’s Emissions Trading…

Brussels 19 April 2017. The European Commission has released a new study showing major flaws in carbon offsets from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). As countries flesh out the rules to implement the Paris Agreement, Carbon Market Watch calls for an end to the scheme, and a shift away from offsetting as a climate policy…

BRUSSELS 28 February 2017. Today the EU environment ministers adopted their position on the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) revision. While the ministers proposed some improvements to the original proposal, more is needed to align one of the EU’s key climate laws with the Paris Agreement on climate change. To address the chronic glut…

STRASBOURG 15 February 2017. Today the European Parliament adopted its position on the revision of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for the 2021-2030 period. Regrettably, the lawmakers missed out on an opportunity to strengthen the polluter pays principle through a carbon border tax on cement imports and an end to free pollution permits…

BRUSSELS 3 February 2017. The European Commission has proposed to continue to exempt all flights to and from Europe from paying for their pollution under the EU’s carbon market rules, following an international agreement on aviation emissions. An uncertain global agreement should not be allowed to undermine EU’s climate efforts. The proposal comes after the…

Strasbourg, 15 December 2016. Today members on the European Parliament’s environment committee voted on the revision of the EU’s Emission’s Trading System (EU ETS). The vote enables faster cuts in Europe’s carbon pollution but falls short of putting a halt on free handouts to polluters. The EU ETS is the world’s largest carbon market and…